The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-11-12
THE NEW BIRTH.

The New Birth is not something, or
some gift that can be bestowed upon
us from without; neither is it some
thing we can acquire by our own efforts
wholly. Our enjoyment of it does not
depend upon ourselves entirely; neither
does it depend upon some other than
ourselves. Perhaps the best idea we
get of this experience is from the con-
versation of Jesus and Nicodemus.
jesus words are. Except a man be be-
gotten of water and spirit he cannot
see the kingdom of God" Every other
thought aside, baptism was, in the early
church, the outward, open profession
and pledge of faith in, and loyalty to,
the Master as the head of the church
and the teacher of eternal truth. That
Jesus wished to instruct Nicodemus
that believers were required to give this
solemn pledge of their desire and earn
est purpose to become citizens of his
kingdom; that casting off all fealty but
this, they desired and solemnly promised
to assume the duties and to obey the
laws of the heavenly kingdom, may be
safely affirmed from bis use of the
phrase ''born of water" Whatever
theory we may hold, however, concern
ing baptism, emphasis must be put
upon the spiritual preparation for this
kingdom. To be "born Of the Spirit"
is the emphatic need. The water as a
cleansing medium applied to the body
must be recognized symbol of the
cleansing of truth and love when ap-
piled to the soul.
This spiritual cleansing, this intel
lectual ignition, Jesus confesses he can
not fully explain. He says, 1.-THE spirit
breathes where it will; we hear the
voice thereof and know not whence it
comes, or whittier it goes; so is every
one that is born of the spirit" The
subject is difficult of comprehension,
and Nicodemus asks, "How can these
things be ?' Jesus confesses his ina
bility to reveal it in all its fulness to
one who has never felt it. "Truly,"
he says, 1--WE speak what we do know
andbear witness to what we have SEEM"
intimating so, that this transfer of
faith and fealty to God, through knowl-
edge and love of divine truth is attended
by an inward conviction, spiritual
light which must be felt in order to be
understood. This knowledge of hav.
ing passed over, been begotten, into
new world of thought and purpose, a
world of sanity passion, of glorided
hope and expectation, is an experience
which even the Master, with all his
moral insight, was not able fully to ex-
plain to one who never felt it. 1t is
the baptism of the holy Spirit, the bap-
tism of fire, of self-sacrifce, of enthu-
siasm in the truth, which has been the
mark of Gods saints in all ages of the
world. Like the blind man whom
Jesus healed, the true believer sees in
those things in which he was once blind;
he knows in those things of which he
was once ignorant; he believes and
hopes in those things in which he was
once hopeless and unbelieving, and so
has passed from spiritual inactivity and
death into spiritual life. We have the
witness within ourselves; any other is,
and can be, only akin to that which one
may have of Yosemite, or Niagara,
who has only read about them, but has
never had his soul thrilled and awed
by sight of them. This awed, intense
life is the life of the true Christian
among the lives of common men. We
begin to live on the Christian plan only
when we have our hearts moved in
view of the moral meaning of Christ
ianity, and so are quickened into pur
pose to make it an experimental thing.
Think what the life of such an one is!
Go where he may, he sees everything
in the light of the Spirit. Every place,
all time, all experience, are hallowed
by the thought of Coos care. The
universe is temple, living continual
worship. Every object and circum-
stance, somehow, ministers to faith
and reverence and joy. Except man
be begotten of this trustful. heavenly
spirit, he cannot know what its joys
and blessings are. Whoever fails in
this, and in so much as he fails, he
comes short of enjoying, to the full, the
divine resources of peace and consola-
ton. Only by coming to knowledge
of these truths, by being begotten of
them into better life, can he ''experi-
ence religion" and round out into the
perfect Christian character. In this
new birth, leading on to full growth in
righteousness and holiness, is destiny
attained.